Is there a general consensus of the best focal lengths for zoo trips? Will be visiting Taronga Zoo in a few weeks time on holidays. Just working out what to pack. My initial thought is bigger the better. But I'm surprised to see a lot of the photos here have been taken with more moderate sized lenses.

My 100-400 and 70-200 + 1.4x are my mainstays when I shoot outdoors. Indoors (in narrow quarters) I shoot the 24L II. If I had to bring only one, it would be the 70-200 f/2.8L II.

Correct though I'd vote more for a 100-400. I've used an APS-C + 55-250mm IS lens but it is still short for some of the pictures I want to take.

Is there a general consensus of the best focal lengths for zoo trips? Will be visiting Taronga Zoo in a few weeks time on holidays. Just working out what to pack. My initial thought is bigger the better. But I'm surprised to see a lot of the photos here have been taken with more moderate sized lenses.

My 100-400 and 70-200 + 1.4x are my mainstays when I shoot outdoors. Indoors (in narrow quarters) I shoot the 24L II. If I had to bring only one, it would be the 70-200 f/2.8L II.

Correct though I'd vote more for a 100-400. I've used an APS-C + 55-250mm IS lens but it is still short for some of the pictures I want to take.

When shooting through fences, a long lens (around 300mm) and a large aperture help to blur out the fence. For years I used a 300 f/4 which in many situations is ideal, but in some cases crops out part of the animal because I could not zoom out. I recently sold it along with an old style 80-200 2.8 because this version (the black Canon one) did not take extenders. I replaced it with a used Sigma 100-300 f/4 which was great until the autofocus broke and Sigma said it is too old to fix. Having learned my lesson about Sigma, I just replaced it with a 70-200 2.8 (the cheaper non-IS) which I can use with a 1.4x extender I already have. I looked at the 100-400, but I just did not want to be limited to 5.6 maximum aperture. I wish Canon made a 100-300 or 70-300 constant f/4 like the discontinued Sigma, that would be the perfect zoo lens.

I shoot only full frame which also helps blur out the fence. For technical reasons I personally do not understand, full frame sensors have a shallower depth of field than crop sensors.

For technical reasons I personally do not understand, full frame sensors have a shallower depth of field than crop sensors.

Maybe this will help...full frame sensors have shallower dof than crop for the same framing. It's quite simple really. Youre shooting ff and I'm shooting crop, were both using a 50mm lens yet I am 60% further away from the subject than you to provide the same framing in both cameras, hence I have more dof due to distance to subject.

Nice pics! Somehow, I'd like to see all these creatures in the wild. I'd like taking pictures of animals inside the zoo but something in me becomes sad when I see them caged. Hopefully I'll be able to save money to go to a real safari someday.